UW Madison Week #1

My name is Kaylene and I am a southern California native. I go to school and work in the dining hall at California State University, Chico. I am a dietetics student and will graduate in December.

After a long 32 hour car drive with my mom through 8 states (CA, NV, AZ, UT, CO, NE, IA, WI) we finally made it. What a way to start my summer! 

Lake Mendota

 Adams hall

On Sunday, I moved into my home for the summer, Adams hall. The hall is in the lakeshore section of campus because right behind the building is Lake Mendota. I met the other intern Miranda and we went to dinner with Sue Olson, one of our internship coordinators. She drove us around campus a little bit and then we walked down to State street which is the main street in downtown Madison that leads to the capitol building The campus is HUGE! It’s all a little overwhelming but I am excited to start in the morning.

Monday:

Today we toured 5 dining halls all around campus and met all the people who make them operate smoothly.

We started at Dejope Hall where four lakes market is the main eatery. It was really big compared to what I am used to working in at CSU, Chico and its not even the biggest one we toured.

Across from the dorms I am staying in is Carson’s Gulley. It is not open until mid June but I am sure I’ll be dining here a lot once it’s open. It is also the location for our specialty meal project we will be working on throughout the 8 weeks.

We stopped in at the centennial garden and looked at some of the beautiful flowers and plants on the way to out next location.

We visited Rheta’s Market and Newell’s deli before heading to Gordon Dining and Event Center. Gordon’s is massive and offers a large variety of foods for students.

While at Gordons we had the pleasure of sitting in on a recipe review meeting where head chefs and unit managers met with the dietitian to review all of the recipes(not at once) that are in the system and figure out which one’s they use and which can be deleted. This was a very interesting process and there were a lot of factors that determined if the recipe should be kept, changed, or deleted. They got through turkey and some of seafood today.

Miranda (the other intern) and I went back to Four Lakes market for dinner after a short walk around the lake with our intern director, Sue.

To end the day, I got to witness my first of many summer thunder storms! I can’t wait to see what else is in store for me this summer.

Tuesday and Wednesday:

The next two days were spent in meetings with a number of very important people. All of their offices are located in the basement of Gordon Hall.

We started by meeting with Julie Luke, the associate director of dining and culinary services. She is involved in a lot of the projects that go on in dining and is currently working on a web based program for file sharing between directors. She explained to us the flow chart of employees. The two catering managers report directly to her.

Next we met with Angie Erickson who is the assistant director of purchasing. She helps decide who the main vendor will be and works very closely with all the vendors. She also works with point of sale.

Jodie Bodnar is in charge of point of sale and reports along with many other things. She is in charge of the truck drivers for deliveries. Point of sale is the price at which goods are retailed and because UW Madison has an al a carte dining system this is very important. Each item must be priced and added to the system in order for it to be rung up at the register.

Denise Bolduc is the main registered dietitian on staff. She does a lot of work on CBORD which is the online menu and recipe planning system.  She also runs net nutrition which is the online site that has all of the menus posted and the nutrition facts listed.

We then met with Carleen and Amanda who are in charge of submitting orders. They make sure the orders get sent out on time and run reports that tell the fluctuation of orders along with many other things.

The day ended with a tasting of fried cheese curds. We did an evaluation to decide which ones should be included on the menu. It was my first time trying cheese curds and they were AMAZING!

On Wednesday, we started off by meeting with the director of dining and culinary services, Joie Schoonover. She told us about her journey to her current position and what her title entails. She went over the budget with us and explained a little about what the money is used for including staff salaries, food costs and supplies. She oversees any of the projects being conducted in the dining facilities and is there to support and direct the other employees.

Next we went and sat with Jenn who is the central office manager. She answers any questions students and parents might have about dining or the wiscard and is in charge of the treat baskets sold on campus.

The Executive chef, Paul Sprunger was next on our agenda. He gave us a lot of really useful information for working in general that are part of his personal philosophy. His passion for his job came out as he was telling us about his past and the work he has been involved in. 

We started our traning with the CBORD training today before meeting with the catering managers Ted and Joe. They showed us the program they use for keeping track of orders and let us see some examples of requests for. I am excited to get a taste of the catering world and everything that is involved in it.

The last two days have been very exhausting but filled with valuable information. I am ready to start some hands on work the next two days.

Thursday & Friday

Gordon Dish Room

Four Lakes Dish Room

The last two days were spent in the Dishroom at 4 lakes and Gordon. We spent about 6 hours there each day before going to meetings for the last 2  hours of the day. Both facilities were pretty slow the days I was in them. There were some decent rushes but nothing that couldn’t be handled by 2-3 people. 

On Thursday I went to a meeting of the student supervisor planning committee. They were discussing the plans for training and new team ember outreach. They do a lot of work to ensure strong bonds between all team members. It is refreshing to see that they care about their employees.

On Friday we met with Kevin who is the head chef at Carsons Gulley where we are having our theme meal near the end of the internship. Our theme is Rock and Roll and we are thinking about setting it up somewhat like a 50s diner. Each meal item is named after a rock song. While talking to Kevin we got a few more projects to work on. We need to create a specialty pizza to go with our theme and figure out a tasty gluten free desert. 

First Weekend

My weekend started on Friday night with a little soccer action. I watching the US Women's world cup game and then decided to join a coed league with my cousin for the summer. We had our first game and ended up winning 4-3. 

Saturday morning Miranda and I went down to the farmers market with my new friend Marin who works at the animal hospital on campus and is in vet school. When we first got there we stopped at Stella’s for some hot and spicy cheese bread. IT'S  AMAZING!

We walked all around the capital building looking at all of the different little stands selling baked goods, meat, plants, fruits and veggies and of course CHEESE! 

The exploring has only just begun. There is so much to do and see in this beautiful place during these next 7 weeks.